This year I hope Latinos will become more of a powerful united force and have a positive impact on social-political events in the world and in all of the Americas. Plus, be a decisive factor on the upcoming U.S. Presidential Elections in November and on into the future.

First of all, let us understand that humane beings of humanity are actually one species of life, one humane race of people called Homo-Sapiens. There are not four totally separate races of people, there is only one dominant humane race. The old concept of a separate race is a social invention, a social construction, an old Roman divide-and-conquer method used to divide us, to get us to attack each other based upon racial differences and get us to forget our common enemies who compose the 1% of the Corporate Ruling Class of the Amerikan Empire. On an existential global level, we are one people with many unique cultures, different languages and ways of living life.

There are various terms used to describe Latinos, including La Raza, Mexicans, Chicanos, Mexican-Americans, Hispanics and a few others. Not all Latinos agree on these same terms to identify ourselves as a distinct people. Some consider Latinos of strictly Latin-European origin and there is some truth to that. Many in Latin America do not consider themselves Latinos, but natives of their own specific tribes. Some of us will never be content and love to argue in circles. We can only communicate via the power of the word in general terms here. No one of us can speak with absolute authority for all of us. It complicated!

We need to have a common general term we are familiar with in order to analyze, discuss and debate significant social issues related to Latinos in general. Latinos is the most popular term used today and understood by most. We are using the general term Latino as described here:

“A latino or latina is a person considered part of an ethnic background that is traditionally Spanish-speaking, especially a citizen of, or an immigrant from, a Spanish-speaking country. The term latino is used to refer to males only or a combination of males and females in a group, whereas the term latina is used to refer to females only.”Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latino ~

The 2010 U.S. Census confirmed that the Latino community, now 50.5 million strong, is the largest minority group in the USA. Latinos are part of what many Chicanos call La Raza Cosmica ~The Cosmic Race. We are a complex diverse people with a rich cultural heritage.

In the main, we are the original indigenous natives of the lands now called the Americas, not from Europe across the Atlantic. Our cultural roots and bloodlines as a unique beautiful diverse people are here. Many of us still consider ourselves Mexicans, even if we were born in the USA. Most Mexicans have so-called Indian blood in them along with Spanish blood as Mestizos. In a technical sense, Indians are from India. Recall: the cruel Columbus thought he had discovered India. We are surviving, multiplying and ceaselessly evolving in North America, Mexico, Central America, the Antilles and South America today.

It all begins with one’s self. I myself am a Chicano de Aztlan. I am not fully a Mexican who speaks Spanish fluently nor am I fully accepted by White American society.

Aztlan is an ancient native term for lands now known as the U.S. southwest. The acceptance of the term Aztlan is not an automatic endorsement for the existence of an illusionary Chicano nation. However, Aztlan, being of native origin, is actually more appropriate for these lands than the term America.

The term Aztlan is an historical reminder of native people who once solely occupied the land called North America or the US Southwest before the European invasions conquests, along with the genocide of the original peoples of these lands. In a way, Chicanos are the lost tribe abandoned here by our Mother Country Mexico. We were left to take care of ourselves after the White Amerikan conquest of these lands by White Amerikans carrying a Remington rifle in one hand and a Holy Bible in the other.

We here now inside the United States are all on the same land with its natural resources meant to be shared. We cannot own the land of Mother Earth. It owns us. The whole concept of exclusive land ownership is not natural to the Native of Aztlan, it is an American-European concept.

When I was younger, in my early teens, I was comfortable for a short time with the term ‘Mexican-American’ to label myself as an ethnic identity. Then, while I was in high school in the late 60s, the Chicano Movement came marching onto the scene and then I naturally related to the term Chicano. In a way, the Chicano is the hyphen between Mexican-American. I am of Mexican ancestry, yet have been raised in a White American cultural mix.

Latinos include Puerto Ricans of New York, Cubans in Florida and are scattered across the land in many places, cities and towns. Mexicans, even those born in the USA generally think of themselves as Mexicans, not necessarily Latinos. We want non-Latino peoples of the USA and the world to understand Latinos in general and not be stuck on old racist stereotypes about who we are as a people.

We can be referred to as Brown people, but most of us do not really have a self-identity based upon color as most Black-Americans or African-Americans do. Our skin color is generally bronze or brown, though many of us are light-skinned, some of us are blondes, some of us have green eyes and we do not all easily fall into any surface racial or color categories.

The year of 2012 is still young. There will be a lot of dramatic changes inside the United States and in the world. Latinos will be a major factor in historical events to come. We will make sure of it. We are not asleep. We have been awake all these past few centuries working hard in the fields, factories and homes of Amerika. Venceremos!